Vacuum discharge-gap for producing electrical oscillations.



H. F. WAITE. VACUUM DISCHARGE GAP FOR PRODUCING ELECTRICAL OSGILLATIONS.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 10, 1910.

Patented Jan. 10, 1911.

HARRY F. WAITE, OF HARRISON, NEW YORK.

VACUUM DISCHARGE-GAP FOR PRODUCING ELECTRICAL OSCILLATIONS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 10,1911.

Application filed May 10, 1910. Serial No. 560,428

To all whom 'it may concern:

Be it known that I, HARRY F. \VAI'rn, a citizen of the United States, residing at Harrison, in the county of \Vestchester and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Vacuum Discharge-Gaps for Producing Electrical Oscillations; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention" relates to a vacuum discharge gap especially adapted for discharging the condenser used in wireless telegrapliy circuits and has for its object the production of a discharge gap which will be certain in action, simple in construction, not liable to get out of order, and one which will produce substantially no noise while sending.

\Vith these ends in view, the invention consists in the novel details of construction and combinations of par more fully hereinafter disclosed and p. ticularly pointed out in the claims.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, in which like numerals designate like parts in all the views :Figure 1, is a sectional elevational view showing my invention applied to a common form of sending a paratus; and, Fig. 2, is a sectional detail 0 the discharge gap detached.

1 represents any suitable form of casing, 2 any suitable condenser, 3 a connection between said condenser and a source of current, '1 a conductor leading from said condenser to the self induction coil 5 and provided with the adjustable contact 6.

7 represents a suitable connection between one end of the coil 5 and the mercury electrode 8 with which the vacuum chamber 9 is provided.

10- represents a suitable pipe for exhausting the chamber 9 and 11 an electrode at the other end of said chamber which is preferably made of iron. 1

12 is a vacuum chamber similar to the chamber 9, provided with an upper electrode 13 which is also preferably made of iron,

'and the two electrodes 11 and 13 are joined by any suitable conductor as 14. L 15 're resents a lower electrode of mercury in the c iamber 12, and 1 6 a suitable-connecrial which will giveofl a gas when an electric current is passed throu h it;

19 re resents the place a which a spark gap is ormed between the upper electrode of the vacuum discharge gapand the. vacu- V um regulating means 18.

The operation of my invention is as follows :lV hen signals are to be sent the initial' voltage is madesufiiciently high to jump the gaps between the electrodes 8 and 11 and the electrodes 13 and 15 and with the result that substantially no noise is produced. That is to say, after the apparatus has once been put into operation there is a sufiicient number of'ions in the vacuum chambers'Q and 12 to render it a comparatively eas matter to send a condenser discharge throng i said vacuum chambers, thereby producing electric oscillations of sutticient volume to generate ertzian waves and this discharge is found to be unaccompanied by any disagreeable noise or other objections such as are ,now experienced in the ordinary air spark gaps. Further, I do not find that these vacuumdischarge gaps when once installed require the same annoying attention as to adjustment and other matters which the open air spark gaps require. In addition to this, by providing metal electrodes, such as 11 and 13, as well as the mercury electrodes, the sparks are always between metal, and never between n1etal,'glass and metal, and, therefore, the apparatus is clurable. This would notbe the case were the sparks permitted to impinge upon glass during some portion of their path, as is sometimes done in vacuum apparatus.

It is obvious that instead of a pair of vacuum chambers, a plurality of pairs of vacuum chambers could be employed, for the same purpose, and also that those skilled in the art may vary the details of construction and the arrangement of parts without departing from the spirit of my invention, therefore, I do not wish to be limited to the features disclosed, except as may be required by the claims. It is also evident that this device can be used in any line of electrical wor: Where high frequency oscillations are desired.

What I claim is 1. A spark gap for Wireless telegraph com rising exhaust chambers provided wit solid electrodes and with liquid electrodes, and-series connections between a plurality of said chambers uniting their solidelectrodes,-substantially as described.

' 2. In a Wireless telegraphic apparatus, the combination of a condenser; an adjustable inductance joined to said condenseryand a spark gap comprising exhaust chambers provided w th solid electrodes and with liquid electrodes; pluraligy of said chambers uniting their solid electro es, substantially as described.

and series connections between a 3. In a. wireless tele raphic apparatus, the combination of a con enser; an adjustable 20 inductance joined to said condenser; and a spark ga comprising exhaust chambers each provided with means for maintaining the vacuum substantially constant,...and each chamber also provided with a solid electrode, 25 I may a; warm.

Witnesses:

WM. A. Tarnon, M. Enema. 

